It
seems that Dr. Dennis Werner, who just happens to breed peaches,
has a friend, Dr. Henry Yang, who just happens to love peaches.
When Werner let Yang sample a new peach variety he had developed,
Yang really liked the new variety.

Yang, a plant pathologist who works in
Research Triangle Park and whose doctorate came from North Carolina
State University, liked the new variety so much, he suggested
that Werner ship some peaches to Hong Kong, where Yangs
family lives.

It seems all the Yangs are fruit lovers.
Indeed, the Hong Kong Yangs like peaches so much, they travel
to South Korea each year just for the harvest of a peach variety
grown there that they consider particularly tasty. So thats
how 20 boxes of North Carolina peaches ended up in Hong Kong
in early August.

Coincidentally
and appropriately, Werner calls his new variety China Pearl.
When Yang suggested the Hong Kong shipment as a sort of test
run to see if there might be a market for North Carolina peaches
in Hong Kong, Werner enlisted the aid of Dr. Barclay Poling,
coordinator of N.C. States Specialty Crops Program. The
Specialty Crops Program provided boxes designed to protect peaches
and filled them with China Pearl peaches from the Sandhills Research
Station and the programs test market orchard at the Cunningham
Research Station in Kinston. China Pearl peaches ripen in early
August, and thats when they left Raleigh-Durham International
Airport, on a Tuesday. They arrived in Hong Kong three days later.

The fruit arrived in good shape,
with little spoilage, Werner says. They (the Yangs)
liked the color, shape and size, but they didnt think they
compared in quality to fresh-picked fruit.

So
the results of this experiment in international marketing were
inconclusive. Werner and Poling demonstrated that China Pearl
peaches can be shipped successfully to the Orient. While their
buyers (the Yangs) found the fruit only acceptable,
their standards may be considerably higher than those of some
other potential buyers.

More successful but less exotic was a separate
China Pearl marketing effort. The Specialty Crops Program supplied
China Pearl peaches to Wellspring Grocery stores in Raleigh and
Durham. The peaches, which have white flesh, were a hit at the
Wellspring stores. Because of their low acid content, China Pearl
peaches are sweet and sugary. White flesh, low-acid peaches tend
to be favored in Oriental and Hispanic cultures, which is one
reason Werner and Poling were excited about the Hong Kong experiment.

So while there may yet be exotic markets
for China Pearl, it appears there may also be a market for the
new variety here at home.

College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences researchers now have the resources
to more quickly and accurately identify Pfiesteria
piscicida, the toxic microbe that preys on fish in Mid-Atlantic
coastal waters. A new
research laboratory, in which Dr. JoAnn Burkholder will study
the dinoflagellate, was dedicated in August.

The 3,400-square-foot facility will provide
eight times the capacity the scientist previously had for testing
water samples and five times the previous capacity for growing
Pfiesteria toxins for laboratory analysis.

The
new labs improved safety features include a sophisticated
alarm system that monitors air quality and equipment performance.
Burkholder, professor of aquatic botany and marine sciences,
and her colleagues will be able to deliver results to state regulatory
agencies within 24 hours.

This lab will allow researchers to
evaluate more water samples and will speed testing, said
Dr. Jim Oblinger, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences.

It will serve as the central testing site
for Pfiesteria samples from North Carolina, Florida, Virginia,
Maryland and Delaware.

Under a new five-state agreement, water
samples from fish kills, fish disease events (also called slow
kills), and waters prone to Pfiesteria will be sent to N.C. State
for evaluation.

This (laboratory) is a quantum leap
forward, Burkholder said. The agreement, along with
the new lab, allows our staff to respond to potential Pfiesteria
outbreaks more promptly than ever before.

U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth, N.C. Sen. Beverly
Perdue and N.C. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources
Wayne McDevitt were among those who toured Burkholders
new lab.

Several Atlantic Coast Conference schools
dispensed with sporting rivalry in September as they broke ground
for a new center designed to enhance the states coastal
resources.

North Carolina State University, the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Carteret Community College
have formed the Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST),
a consortium of research scientists and other experts working
to better understand and conserve the North Carolina coastal
region and its waters and wildlife.

CMAST is working to improve forecasting
of storms and flooding, to prevent fish kills and disease outbreaks,
to improve fish stocks and aquaculture production and to implement
research-based water-quality education programs.

The
center will be headquartered in a four-story, 50,000-square-foot
building on the community college campus in Morehead City. It
is scheduled to open in late 1999.

From his office at Fletcher, Dr. Jerry
Gibson, a regional agricultural education coordinator, stays
in close contact with the high school teachers he serves in North
Carolinas western region. Meanwhile, thanks to communications
technology, hes also able to teach a course in program
planning to graduate students as far away as the coast.

To
teach the course, Gibson uses a new videoconferencing system
that enables the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to
deliver research-based information to North Carolinians in new
ways.

In the fall semester, the College expanded
its 5-year-old interactive videoconferencing capabilities to
take advantage of new technology and infrastructure. In addition
to a new system installed at N.C. State University, videoconference
centers were set up at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research
and Extension Center, where Gibson is stationed, and at the Vernon
G. James Research and Extension Center in Plymouth, in the eastern
part of the state.

These are the first of seven proposed sites
that the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service intends
to develop over the next two to three years, according to Dr.
Jon Ort, director of the Extension Service.

The sites tap into the North Carolina Information
Highway, a vast network that reaches into communities throughout
the state. There are 150 similar sites in public institutions
throughout North Carolina.

Coupled
with an existing link to the North Carolina Research and Education
Network, which connects campuses of the state university system,
the Information Highway connection enables the Extension Service
to hold administrative meetings and offer training and credit
courses for its faculty and clientele at more sites throughout
the state. And it offers a more flexible program schedule.

Another benefit, says Extension Distance
Education Specialist Bob Gregory, is that the system allows researchers
and other field-based faculty to communicate more effectively
with colleagues based in Raleigh.

For students taking credit courses, the
system offers a number of advantages: Those with jobs dont
have to make major scheduling changes to take a course that they
otherwise might have to drive hours to attend, and they can hear
from guest speakers at any participating site.

Dr. George Barthalmus, a long-time
member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty,
has been named to direct the Colleges Academic
Programs office.

Barthalmus was appointed associate dean
and director of academic programs effective Oct. 12. He has headed
the Academic Programs office on an interim basis since October
1997, when Dr. Jim Oblinger, then Academic Programs head, was
named dean of the College.

Barthalmus joined the Academic Programs
office in 1994 as assistant director. In that position, he served
as the Academic Programs liaison to College departments and was
involved in to student recruitment, advising, scholars and honors
programs, student outcomes, curriculum development, policy enforcement
and various outreach activities.

He also served as program director for
a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant now in its seventh year.
The grant funds efforts to promote and broaden access to biological
education for undergraduates and secondary school students.

Barthalmus came to the Academic Programs
office from the Department of Zoology, where he was a professor
and undergraduate coordinator. Barthalmus won three North Carolina
State University Outstanding Teaching Awards. He also won the
Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Award and the College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences Outstanding Adviser Award.

He joined the College faculty in 1970,
after earning a doctorate in zoology at Pennsylvania State University.

When
N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt decided that the states burgeoning Hispanic
population should have a more visible role in state government
and a seat at the policy-making table, he turned to a College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty member with a passionate
commitment to that community.

In September, Hunt named Heriberto Nolo
Martinez the states director of Hispanic/Latino Affairs.
Among his responsibilities will be guiding the new 15-member
Governors Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs. The council
has been charged with advising the governor on issues and policies
affecting the community; working to improve race and ethnic relations;
and promoting cooperation and understanding among the community,
the public and local, state and federal governments.

Until
Hunts term ends, Martinez will be on leave from his position
as a health education specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative
Extension Service. He will continue to lead Exten-sions
own Hispanic/Latino Task Force.

The creation of the College task force,
the state advisory council and Martinezs position come
at a time when the North Carolinas Hispanic population
is growing faster than ever before. The population has nearly
doubled in this decade, with the U.S. Census Bureau estimating
a Hispanic population of 150,000 out of a total population of
7.4 million statewide. Martinez is the link between this population
and Hunt.

Our vision, says Martinez,
is to unite and integrate Hispanic resources  agencies
that serve Hispanic people  to meet the needs of the larger
population. Up until now, there has been nobody at the state
level who could focus attention on the Hispanic population.

Martinez comes to his role in tune with
the states Hispanic population. A native of Puerto Rico,
he held a position with the extension service there before pursuing
a doctorate in adult education at N.C. State University.

Many of his Extension efforts involved
migrant agricultural workers the vast majority of whom
are Hispanic.

He became increasingly aware of the need
for a better infrastructure for identifying and meeting the needs
of the Hispanic and Latino population.

Many immigrants to the United States face
two major obstacles, he says: language and culture. There
is a clash, but in no way does it need to be a fight, Martinez
says. Rather, it can be an opportunity for growth for all
of us.

Eating should be fun, not frightening.
But improperly prepared food can be dangerous. Now, thanks to
the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, anyone with
Internet access can quickly find reliable answers about buying,
preparing and preserving food safely.

Melissa Taylor, a food safety education
and communications specialist in the Department of Food Science,
created the site as part of her work toward a masters degree.
Dr. Pat Curtis, a food science Extension specialist, guided Taylors
efforts.

The site averages more than 3,000 hits
per day. The most active day so far was Aug. 31, right after
Hurricane Bonnie hit, when there were more than 40,000 visits.

For many,
Octobers Space Shuttle Discovery launch evoked memories
of John Glenns 1962 orbit around the Earth. But for one
North Carolina State University student, the launch was itself
the stuff from which memories are made.

While the world focused on Glenns
return to space, Reathal Geary looked to his future. He was one
of a handful of U.S. college students whose experiments were
selected to be part of the Discovery
mission.

Gearys goal was to find out whether
fractured strands of plant DNA could repair themselves in space.
He is shown above (right) with one of his botany instructors,
Dr.
Christopher Brown, and the hardware that contained his experiment.

Gearys
research was part of a larger effort aimed at helping NASA find
ways to grow plants to help clean the air, make potable water
and provide food for long space flights. The College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences is playing an increasingly important role in
that effort, having established a NASA
Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) for Gravitational
Biology. Geary has gained insight into space biology by working
in an NSCORT lab and by taking Browns undergraduate course.

To teach the Space
Biology class, Brown drew upon his own experience. After
earning a masters degree in horticulture and his doctorate
in botany from N.C. State, Brown went to the Kennedy Space Center
in Florida to help set up and run the Plant Space Biology Laboratory.
He was there from 1989 to 1996, then returned to his alma mater
when N.C. State received a $5 million, 5-year grant to set up
NSCORT.

Geary, a former shoe salesman and part-time
community college student, says his experience with NSCORT has
been the single most important thing thats happened
to me so far in college. His sights are now set on graduate
school and a career in ecology or environmental law.

As the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
new business officer, Mike Cross has set a broad goal: to enable
faculty and staff members to do their jobs better.

Cross joined the College's Business
Office in August. He has more than two decades of experience
in auditing and financial management for government and private
enterprises. Most recently, he served as director of business
financial services at California State University in Los Angeles.

Cross is glad to have left behind a time-consuming,
nerve-wracking daily commute on Southern California freeways.
The drive was a distraction from home and from work  much
like financial planning and decision making are to faculty and
staff members who struggle with budget codes and reporting procedures.

To streamline the process  to cut
that commute, so to speak  Cross is introducing technology
that gives decision makers models for better understanding budgeting
options. Hes also working to enhance training and make
operations smoother and more efficient.

In the end, I hope that those who
manage money will be able to make more informed decisions 
they wont feel boxed into doing things one way, he
says. And faculty and staff members will be able to spend
less time struggling with financial decisions and more time doing
research, teaching classes, working in the communities and doing
the things they need to do.

A blight-resistant chestnut tree taking
root at N.C. State Universitys Centennial Campus stands
as a symbol of a new partnership aimed at protecting American
agriculture from damaging insects and diseases.

The center will coordinate plant health
research and the application of findings of the USDA Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Services 13 plant protection
and quarantine laboratories. The centers 30 scientific
and technical employees work in the recently completed Partners
Building I.

Centennial Campus also will be home to
a new USDA eastern regional hub, which will bring 150 APHIS jobs
to the campus in 1999.

The hub will anchor a new cluster of biotechnology
research and development buildings on the 1,000-acre Centennial
Campus.

Gov. Jim Hunt said that having APHIS
eastern hub on the campus will give federal agriculture policy
makers easy access to N.C. States pool of scientific talent,
a model Cooperative Extension network and the nations broadest
array of agricultural and animal research laboratories and field
research stations.

Said College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Dean Jim Oblinger, N.C. States long-standing relationship
with the USDA will continue to grow with the opening of this
center. ... This partnership will speed the transfer of scientific
discoveries for the benefit of American consumers, growers, importers
and exporters.

A federal grant and a new initiative will
help N.C. State University in its efforts to find solutions to
animal-waste management challenges faced by farmers and communities
throughout the state.

As part of a cooperative agreement between
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the university, N.C. States
Animal and Poultry
Waste Management Center will receive $75,000 to conduct field
trials of two promising waste-management technologies. The agreement
was announced in mid-August.

The funding will be used to evaluate a
system in which effluent flows >from swine production houses
to an electric reactor, where it is treated and the solid portions
removed. The remaining liquid is filtered through sand before
being discharged into a lagoon.

Researchers also will evaluate a method
of harvesting duckweed, an aquatic plant that helps remove nutrients
and minerals from wastewater.

Funding to study such promising technologies
was introduced in the new federal Animal Waste Research Act,
which authorizes the USDA to make grants to universities and
other institutions for animal waste management research. The
legislation was introduced earlier this year by one of North
Carolinas congressmen, Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington.

Partnerships such as that forged by the
new N.C. State-USDA initiative will be key to reaching effective
solutions to waste management challenges, said College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences Dean Jim Oblinger, because they take
advantage of our respective strengths and stretch the dollars
that fund our research as far as possible.

The ambassadors are an active bunch. They
speak at high schools and civic group meetings, help with campus
events and alumni activities, and escort and answer questions
from prospective students on campus for the Spend-A-Day-at-State
program.

When our best and brightest go out
to high schools or to events and give their honest opinions,
people listen, says Sharon Bottcher, program organizer.

The students speak on topics such as Small
Town to Big Campus, Not Just Cows, Sows and Plows:
Clearing Up Misconceptions About N.C. State, N.C.States
Contributions to the State of North Carolina, and Choosing
a Major: Choosing Your Future.

Derek Foster, a senior animal science and
pre-vet major from Mocksville, says that being an ambassador
has given him the opportunity to meet and work with everyone
from prospective students to alumni and has helped him improve
his communication and leadership skills.

This is the second year the ambassadors
program has been active. Ambassadors must have at least a 3.0
grade point average. This year, 105 students were nominated;
20 were chosen.

Cynthia Eudy, a junior agricultural business
management major, says, I am an ambassador primarily to
show the pride that I have in both N.C. State University and
the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Being an ambassador
has given me the opportunity to meet different people throughout
the agriculture industry and allowed me to promote North Carolina
agriculture.

Bottcher, who also serves as assistant
director of the Colleges Alumni
Society, sees other long-term benefits of the program. People
who are active in the College while they are students are likely
to remain involved after they graduate.

Theyll serve us as alumni speakers,
for example. We know theyll stay involved, she says.

If you are interested in having one or
more ambassadors speak to your group, contact Sharon Bottcher
at (919) 515-7857; fax (919) 515-6980; or email sharon_bottcher@ncsu.edu.

Western North Carolina leaders of
the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service rolled out the
red carpet in late September for a historic daylong visit by
University of North Carolina President Molly Broad and North
Carolina State University Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. The two
top administrators were treated to tours of the Mountain Horticultural
Crops Research and Extension Center in Fletcher, a demonstration
of distance education technology, a visit to the Henderson
County Extension center and tours of commercial operations
in the area where N.C. State researchers and Extension agents
have played a key role.